Updated: House takes step to speed relief bill for fire victims

TOPEKA – The Kansas House of Representatives conducted its 11 a.m. session Monday and then recessed until 4:45 p.m. That is intentionally aimed at speeding up procedures for House Bill 2387, which contains sales tax relief for those recovering from the wildfires.

Introduced Friday, the legislation would grant a sales tax exemption for certain purchases, including the purchase of materials or services in 2017 and 2018 for repairing, rebuilding or replacing any residence, utility pole owned by a rural electric cooperative or fence used to enclose land for agricultural use that was damaged or destroyed by wildfires in 2017. A hearing in the House Taxation Committee is scheduled for Monday afternoon, and the committee is expected to send it the full House.

The House vote would not take place Monday, but the brief late-afternoon meeting of the House Monday effectively would shave a day off the process of moving the bill. The Senate would have to act on the legislation, too, before it reaches the Governor's desk.

Last year, the Legislature passed legislation to help farmers and ranchers in south-central Kansas rebuild fences destroyed by wildfires. The sales tax exemption came in the form of rebates.

The current bill would expand aid beyond ranchers and farmers rebuilding fences to homeowners and rural electric cooperatives. There is talk of possibly changing the tax break to an upfront exemption instead of a rebate.

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Wildfires that have been sweeping across the heart of cattle country since last weekend could decimate some ranchers’ herds. Fires have been reported in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.

The largest of the fires spread from the Oklahoma Panhandle into southwest Kansas, and has consumed more than 800,000 acres of prime grassland. Todd Domer, of the Kansas Livestock Association, says the losses have been devastating.

As many of the grassfires in Kansas were brought under control by the end of last week, emergency workers and residents began picking up the pieces in Lane County, where an estimated 18,000 acres burned. An estimated 39,000 acres burned in neighboring Hodgeman and Ness counties.